...this has to be one of the most heart wrenching RanRyo fics I have read. It's really refreshing that it doesn't start on some funny, coincidental circumstance, as it is for most RyoRan fics. And most would have Ranma in his girl form most of the time. I really love all this emotion being thrown around. I love how Ryouga is really thinking hard on his feelings. That the reader can see the development without and magical items involved just touches the heart. I have always been a firm believer of RanRyo. Their dynamic just works so well! I don't really bash Akane, but she's not good for either of them. I think RyoRan is the most fitting pair, and you justified it so masterfully, giving me all these feels that just make me wanna "Aww!" and hug Ryouga for trying, hug Ranma cause he needs it, and push them both together and wait for the bells to ring.

I love the different POVs you do. The character's personality is really obvious in your writing, as if you really are reading their thoughts. It's sweet. Though, Shampoo's POV always takes me longer to process, ahaha! That must have been a doozy to type!

The ending, although open ended, fits in such a cruel way. I know that if you dragged this on, the heart wrenching feelings that gave the story its charm would fade away. Ending it like this just fits with the overall mood of the story. But, a selfish reader that I am, a sequel would be appreciated, though I don't know how that story will play out.

This is the Ranma/Ryuga story I've been looking for. It has a nicely developed plot with a logical progression of how Ryuga could change his views from rival/friend to MORE.

It also has Ryuga accepting and loving both Ranma's original and girl sides. Which is the only way I could see Ranma ever falling for someone. And I've only seen the first few couple of episodes, but when Ryuga first saw Ranma's girl side he accepted it and still viewed her as simply Ranma. Which nobody else seems to do. The way everybody treats Ranma really does make me feel bad for him. And even in the show Ryuga is just so dedicated to Ranma (even if it is to "beat" him), so I can't help but to ship them together.

So overall I really loved this story and I'm gonna favorite it so I can reread it whenever I want. I'd love it if you wrote another with this pairing. _

And this chapter contains my favorite bit of dialogue (between Ryoga and Ranma). Together with the first chapter, it shows how Ryoga started to realize his feelings for Ranma, without getting into Ryoga's head. That's why I think it's so strong.

My heart is aflutter at the first chapter. I swear, this was the one popular pairing of my youth that I never fully understood, and then I read chapter 207 and was like 'yeah, I'm going to need some fic for that scene' and aahhhh this is perfect, perfect, perfect.

Much love for your writing style, right off the bat, and I'm sure I'll enjoy myself!

Oooh. Yay, you returned to a POV! And you have such an awesome grasp of Ranma's. I like that he doesn't immediately panic about Ryoga, and clearly feels flattered and pleased. At the same time, he says Ryoga is one more "ball in the air" and I can only imagine how many things Ranma has to keep spinning in the air. Nice work. :)

I think it might have been a mistake to keep switching POVs. I know that was the schtick of the story, and for many chapters I felt it was really working. (I'm still finding it interesting. Just bear with me. :) However, especially in the last few chapters, I can't help but feel as though they would have been much better written from Ranma's perspective, or Ryoga's. They're where the important stuff is happening right now. And because the readers and you, the author, are well aware of that, we're stuck in a position where we have to be spying on the pair in every single chapter. This leaves us with two problems:

1) Being outside the action
2) Having your narrator be, by necessity, a spectator.

This leaves us with POV characters we don't care much about, because they're really only there to report the actions of others, and have no significant impact on the plot. We are also left with increasingly weird excuses as to why they can't enter the action: Kodachi, for example, is not typically satisfied with gazing from afar, and the idea the Kuno spends a protracted conversation stuck in a rosebush is a touch odd. ;)

Let me reiterate that, in the first few chapters, this was working really well. First of all, your analysis of the characters is profound and awesome - and maybe those are the characters you like, or have thought about a great deal. Even though the central idea was the Ranma-Ryoga romance, it IS important what Nabiki's going to do with her photographs, or that Ukyo wants to seek revenge, or that Akane is so insecure that she's probably never going to be able to see Ranma's new romance as anything but an insult to herself. It's just the last few chapters that sound less like a thoughtful analysis of a character you're really invested in who moves the plot, and more a search for new POV characters to use.

Once again, I really am enjoying this story. I hope you're okay with critique. :)